Introduction
Located in near the business district and the neighborhood of Bo Kaap in Cape Town, South Africa, the Hilton Cape Town City Centre is an ideal hotel for exploring the Cape Town region. This eight-floor, 137 room hotel includes well appointed rooms, executive lounge, great views, and a complimentary shuttle to the V&A Waterfront.
Booking
Cape Town has hotels from just about every hotel chain, providing plenty of options to use points for a free stay. For this stay, I choose Hilton because I had plenty of Hilton points and my diamond status allowed me to gain access to the executive lounge.
An upgrade to a suite did not happen despite having diamond status along with low occupancy in the hotel.
During my stay, the nightly points rate was 29,000 per night. Since I was staying 5 nights, I was able to get the 5th night free since I had diamond status, effectively making the rate 23,200 points per night.
Property (4/5)
The property was clean, welcoming, and well decorated. The lobby had plenty of seating areas and the hallways had great views of the city. There was a pool area with bar, but it was not located on the roof like Hilton Windhoek. Also, the pool was half full due to the water shortage in Cape Town.
Room (5/5)
Room was well decorated with beautiful hardwood floors and rugs. Considering this was the standard room option, the size of the room was larger than expected.
Complementary tea, coffee, and water was provided in the room and refreshed daily. Despite being in the city center, almost no noises from the street could be heard.
While booking online, I made a request for a room with a view. Considering how many rooms in this hotel have great views, and also that it was off season, I was surprised that I got a room with a poor view as a diamond member.
Due to the water shortage in Cape Town, the bath tub was missing the plug, which is understandable.
Executive Lounge (5/5)
Gold and Diamond Hilton Honors members get complimentary access to the Executive Lounge. The lounge serves complimentary breakfast in the morning and hors d’oeuvre and alcoholic beverages in the evening. The quality and quantity of the food provided in the lounge almost make it unnecessary to go elsewhere for dinner.
Food options were changed on a daily basis along with a great selection of South African wine. Only negative was that no pork products were offered in this hotel.
Service (5/5)
Staff was friendly, efficient, and helpful. Rooms and the rest of the hotel were kept spotlessly clean on a daily basis.
One morning I had a very early tour starting before the executive lounge was open. The staff offered to provide a large breakfast takeaway box before the tour at no charge. That’s what I call excellent service!
Surrounding Area (4/5)
The area near the hotel was near the picturesque Bo Kaap neighborhood which is an interesting place to walk around in during the early morning. While not within walking distance of ocean, the hotel is very easy to get to via car, which is good if you have many tours planned.
If arriving via the airport, I suggest taking an uber since pickup spots are well marked and rates are low.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Hilton Cape Town City Centre is an ideal hotel to serve as a base for taking various tours throughout the Cape Town region. The reasonable points rates along with the wonderful executive lounge and central location offer a great value, especially for those with Gold or Diamond Status with Hilton.
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Cape Town is a MUST VISIT city! Really surprised, that with diamond status you did not get an upgrade!! Really bad PR and service from a 5 star chain, as it was not an availability issue. I really thought Hilton had made a fresh change, and would go the extra step for loyal members, but obviously not this Hilton Hotel! Nice Hilton standard decor though. The “make-it-right” policy normally works. I got a Conrad upgrade in a full hotel. Did you meet the hotel manager about this? Normally I use my preferred hotel manager relationships to contact other hotels to… Read more »
Agreed, Cape Town for sure is a must visit city, so many unique sights. I was really surprised about the lack of upgrade, but not so much to talk to the manager. Its true that usually if you speak with the hotel ahead of time they will be more inclined to offer an upgrade. I like to see what the hotel would naturally do without contacting them, and in this case there was no diamond status love. As for the pineapple, I was very confused to see the pineapple stem but no pineapple. I guess it was supposed to be… Read more »